Leadership Assignment Essay

Words: 2077
Pages: 9

Two Business Leaders, Two Philanthropist, who is more effective?

OR

Assignment Topic
Compare and Contrast two leaders, at least one of whom must be a business leader. Which of the two was the more effective leader? Why? What skills did they demonstrate?

Word Count: 1982

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Achieving effective leadership is a process. This paper considers the different attributes to becoming an effective leader. The paper firstly defines leadership, and then introduces two modern day business leaders Oprah Winfrey and Bill Gates, giving brief biographies on their lives and leadership qualities.
It then outlines characteristics of an effective leader and compares and contrasts the two leaders as such.
The paper concludes by
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* Demonstrates a social conscience * Remains Resilient as a leader Oprah has managed to learn from her mistakes and move on. She has not let herself become derailed by missteps or press controversies.

Bill Gates - born William (Bill) H. Gates III
Founder and chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation the world’s leading provider of software for personal computers. * Gates was born on October 28th, 1955 in Seattle Washington. * Gates attended private Lakeside School in North Seattle; his career began in personal computer (PC) software, programming computers at age 13. * In 1973, Gates entered Howard University, where he developed a version of programming language BASIC for the first micro-computer the MITS Altair. * Gates dropped out of Harvard in his junior year to devote his time to Microsoft, which he established in 1975 along with Paul Allen. Between 1978 and 1981, Microsoft's growth exploded, and staff increased from 25 to 128. * He is a philanthropist –In 1994, Gates and his wife established the William H. Gates Foundation which was dedicated to supporting education, world health, and investment in low-income communities. In 2000, the couple combined several family foundations to form the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They started out by making a $28 billion contribution to set up the foundation. * In 2000 Gates resigns as CEO of Microsoft to spend more time